558 Meeting of the British Association. [Oct., 
softened in its character, the hot season being tempered by daily 
rains and clouds, which commence in the morning as soon as the 
sun has gained power, and the cool season attended by clear sunny 
skies and cold nights. He gave statistics showing the growimg 
productiveness of the colony. Of the Kaffirs he spoke most 
encouragingly, and gave instances of steady industry, accumulation 
of property, and appreciation of education among them. 
Mr. Thomas Baines read two papers, one “ On the Westernmost 
Branches of the Zambesi,” and another ‘‘ On the Lower Course of 
the Limpopo,” pointing out where further explorations are needed. 
Dr. Beke also read two papers on African subjects, one “On the 
Possibility of Diverting the Waters of the Nile into the Red Sea,” 
and one “ On the Lake Kura of Arabian Geographers.” He quoted 
numerous historical authorities, and a modern traveller, Schwein- 
furth, to show that the fertilizmg waters of the Atbara might, by 
the formation of dams, be turned into the Gash, the present dry 
lower channel of which trends in the direction of the Red Sea. 
Sir Samuel Baker, in the discussion which followed the reading of 
this paper, emphatically denied that the bed of the Gash extended 
to the Red Sea, and stated that there existed no natural facilities for 
the diversion of the Nile waters. With regard to Lake Kura, which 
had been placed by Arabian cartographers south of the equator in 
the position of the newly discovered lakes, Dr. Beke showed that it 
was no other than the marsh-lake near the junction of the Bahr 
el Ghazal and the White Nile in 90° N. lat. A paper was also 
read “On a Recent Visit to Vohimarina,” the north-eastern 
province of Madagascar, by Dr. Ryan, Bishop of Mauritius, 
describing the harbours, the fertile valleys between the mountains, 
and contrasting favourably the Betsimsaraka race of that part of 
Madagascar with the dominant Hovas. 
A very interesting paper was read by Mr. R. H. Major “On 
Priority in Discovery of the Madeira Group,” in which the author 
showed, from the examination of unpublished documents, that the 
islands were first discovered by Genoese in .the first half of the 
fourteenth century ; in proof of which he quoted a map of the date 
1351, now existing in the Laurentian library at Florence, in which 
the group is laid down with its present names. The names were 
therefore not originally given by the Portuguese in 1418-20 as 
generally believed. Mr. Major also stated that he had found 
additional evidence in support of the romantic accidental discovery 
of Madeira by the Englishman Machim, in a Portuguese manu- 
script now at Munich, earlier by half a century than the earliest 
printed account of that adventure. 
Besides the papers already mentioned on Asiatic subjects, 
there were three read to the Section of considerable interest and 
